Blog

It’s been another chill few days that have also been wonderfully filled with music! Abhishek (Prabhash’s brother) picked me up as arranged Thursday on his way home from school again around 5:30pm. I rode on the back of his motorcycle through the crazy packed rush hour Varanasi streets to their house (about 30 minutes) and… Continue Reading

The last few days have been mellow and relaxing, spending time closer to home. On Monday, I enjoyed a pretty good local Ayurveda massage with the new experience of a steam bath at the end. It felt like you were being enclosed in an archaic casket with the super hot steam rising from below in… Continue Reading

After my yoga practice and breakfast at the guest house, I met Raj at 11am as agreed. First, he took me to meet his 69-yr-old “uncle” at the guest house where he works. He has also worked in a local silk factory for 30 years! We had a lovely lengthy conversation together where his uncle did most… Continue Reading

Yesterday was a sweet day, literally! After enjoying a pancake with syrup breakfast at the ayurveda place (yum!), I walked back to the bakery which I could now find on my own. I had previously inquired about volunteering there so they suggested I arrive at 10am today. Had to wait over an hour which I’m… Continue Reading

The last few days I’ve relaxed and also begun exploring Varanasi a bit. I’d had some lovely conversations with an older woman staying at my guest house in her 60s named Mary who is from England. Like myself, she’s in India around six months but for her sixth or seventh time. She said finding our… Continue Reading

After the challenges of my evening train travel from Haridwar to Lucknow, I readied myself and prepared for whatever was to come with my next train adventure to Varanasi. I can gratefully say how pleasantly surprised I was — completely smooth sailing, er… riding. The tuk-tuk I asked the guest house to order for me… Continue Reading

Just a note before I proceed. I just learned an extremely frustrating lesson in the world of blog writing on the notepad of an iPad. I’ve needed to do so because I don’t often have Wifi, otherwise I would write directly into my email which auto-saves every few minutes. Instead, I have needed to write… Continue Reading

OMmygoodness gracious. That was one of, if not, the craziest travel experiences yet of mine! And in all these years of travel, I’ve had quite a few crazy travel experiences. I gave myself PLENTY of time to get to the 10:30pm train which of course was 22:30 on my e-ticket print-out since almost every other country uses military time… Continue Reading

No luck purchasing my train ticket from Lucknow to Varanasi at the internet place, the Wifi was down. But I was able to purchase it on Vikas’ computer after dinner at the ashram last night. Though once again, after a few attempts! This time, when I put in my Debit card info, I blanked on… Continue Reading

Tomorrow, I finally board the long-awaited train for Lucknow. I decided I will give myself PLENTY of time to get to Hardiwar where the trains departs. Like a truly ludicrous amount of time, because there is no way come hell or high water that I am not getting there on time to board. It will… Continue Reading